Patent truce boosts stem cell medicine

作者：尉迟胀屈 发布时间：2019-03-07 01:12:03

By Andy Coghlan Pioneering medical treatments based on stem cells made from adult tissues may arrive sooner, thanks to an international pact to forestall lengthy patent disputes. Announced today, the pact pools patents already owned by leaders in the development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are created by “reprogramming” adult tissues, such as skin. “My goal is to bring iPSC technology to patients with intractable diseases as soon as possible,” says Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan, who discovered iPSCs in 2006. The pact will see Yamanaka’s patents, owned by Kyoto University through its affiliate, iPS Academia Japan, pooled with those owned by iPierian, a company based in South San Francisco, California. The goal is to avoid disputes, which have hindered development of treatments based on human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), first isolated in 1998 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since then the university has faced complaints from researchers about the cost for using the cells. In 2007, the university’s patents on hESCs were withdrawn as a result of such complaints – although they were partially restored a year later. The new agreement aims to sidestep these legal logjams by creating a more open environment. “We have made the technology available to any academic researchers worldwide without requiring them to pay,” says Yamanaka. “This all seems very good, and can only be of benefit to patients,” says Robin Lovell-Badge of the National Institute of Medical Research in London, UK, and a member of an international coalition of stem cell researchers which recently recommended the creation of patent “pools” to avoid disputes over iPSCs. But researchers in rival companies will need to pay to use the patents. “For corporate researchers, their companies need to get licensing from iPS Academia Japan,” says Yamanaka. Furthermore, some iPSC patents are held by companies not party to the new agreement, so there is likely to be some legal wrangling yet, says Jeanne Loring of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, a long-standing critic of the Wisconsin stem cell patents. “The announced agreement eliminates only the potential for conflict between iPierian and Kyoto,” she says. “It has no effect on the holders of other patents, so there’s still a long way to go.” When this article was first posted, it incorrectly attributed some of Shinya Yamanaka’s comments to Mike Venuti, CEO of iPierian. More on these topics: